Honors, 4RV family, and OWFI Conference

The plaque for the 2013-14 Honorary Life Time Member

   The 2014 OWFI conference held many happy moments the weekend which started May 1. We left for home May 4. 

   I attended sessions given by Jerry Simmons on marketing, which gave me many ideas to share with authors and to use. I didn't get to attend but one short session of his when we met and both spoke at the Alaska Writing Conference two years ago, but I heard enough to know he would be a help to authors and small publishers. He is.  4RV authors prepare to benefit.

   Several people associated with 4RV are also members of OWFI, and I enjoyed visiting with them, and meeting some for the first time in person. I especially liked that they shared my honor. At the banquet Saturday night, I received the 2013-14 Lifetime Honorary Member award, which is one of the best honors to receive from the Oklahoma Writers' Federation, Inc. I didn't sleep much last night.

 

I said I couldn't find words. For some reason Wayne Harris-Wyrick found that funny

   After the meeting, all except one of the 4RV family there met in my room. Wayne Harris-Wyrick had to get home to his family, but he had presented me with my award. However, with us were Diane Wilson (book-to-be, Soltice), vehoae (published book Conscience: Breaching Social Amnesia and a book in the works), Cynthia Henzel (all the way from Tuson, Arizona and has a book-to-be Myth Rider), Jim Laughter (published book Strangers in the Stable), Rita Durrett (book-to-be Borrowed Time), Miranda LoPresti (illustrator), Kathy Gibbs (published book Journey of the Cheyenne Warrior and book-to-be Last Cowboy), Tony LoPresti (published book My Cat and others in the works), Renée LaViness (editor), Vickey Kennedy Malone (acquisition editor), and Jacque Graham (editor and book in the works) as well as one extremely excited publisher.

   Some of the 4RV authors won writing awards, but I forgot to get a list of those. I'll be sure they have recognition at a later time.

Susan McRae won the center piece I created